Search

Country/Language

Explore Our Brands

Search

Speaker Focuses on Economic Power of Latinos and Women at Launch of the GOL! ERG

Guest speaker Marisa Rivera made a solid case for the economic power
of both Latinos and women to an enthusiastic audience at the October
11th launch of Ingersoll Rand’s seventh employee resource group –
GOL!, which stands for Group of Latinos.

“Are you paying
attention to the Latino customer?” challenged Marisa, an
internationally recognized motivational speaker, life coach and
leadership training expert, is a speech titled “The Economic Impact of
Women and Hispanics.” She said that Latinos, at 52 million strong, are
the largest minority group in the country, generating $346 billion in
sales ever year; and that Hispanic-owned businesses are tripling in
the United States.

She noted that the inherent strengths
of Latino employees – cultural flexibility and nurturing relationships
– are important to making sales. Because Spanish is the second most
spoken language in the world (after Chinese and before English), she
said, the ability to speak it is a big asset in business. She added
that 78 percent of the 52 million Latinos in the United States speak
Spanish.

However, despite being 17 percent of the U.S.
population, only one percent of Latinos are Fortune 500 officers, she
said. “We need to see more Latinos in the Fortune 500.” Marisa took
the opportunity to explain the difference between “Hispanic” and
“Latino.” Hispanic, she said, is a category the U.S. government gave
to all Spanish-speaking people in 1969. However, it doesn’t include
Brazilians, who are Latino but speak Portuguese.

Women Worldwide

She broadened her remarks to all women, worldwide,
noting that they own 75 percent of all businesses globally and have
huge purchasing power. For example, 85 percent of all consumer
products in the United States are bought by women. “Globally, women
are the biggest emerging market the world has ever seen,” she said.
However, “Women are working really hard, but getting paid much less
worldwide,” she said. Also, they are “grossly underrepresented in
leadership positions.”

GOL! Aims to Grow

The event was kicked off by GOL! Chairman Alexander
Occupati, who said that the launch fell at the “perfect time” during
National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15 to October 15.
Marisa’s speech was welcomed with enthusiasm by members of GOL!,
members of the Progressive, Diverse and Inclusive (PDI) team, members
of other *ERGs in Davidson, N.C., and others company-wide who dialed
in.

In his brief opening remarks, Alexander, Climate
Solutions Latin America Service Solutions Leader, laid out GOL!’S
plans to increase its membership and to expand to two more chapters by
2015.

Employee Resource Groups support the strategic goal
of fostering a PDI culture, which, along with Operational Excellence
and Growth through Innovation, is one of the three components of
Ingersoll Rand’s strategy to become a premier performing
company.

*ERGs are open to all employees; an employee
does not have to be of a particular ethnicity, gender or gender
orientation to belong to any of them.

Ingersoll Rand is a diverse and inclusive environment. We are an
equal opportunity employer and are dedicated to hiring qualified
protected veterans and individuals with disabilities | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Sitemap